Acceleration areas
An acceleration area is a collection of Alibaba Cloud regions where you want to accelerate access. You select the region in which your clients reside or a region near your clients as the acceleration region. Each acceleration area contains one or more Alibaba Cloud regions.
Accelerated IP addresses
Client requests enter the Alibaba Cloud acceleration network from a nearby access point by accessing an accelerated IP address.
When you create a Global Accelerator (GA)instance, you must first select an accelerated IP address type based on the nearby access mode that your business requires. The available types are Elastic IP Address (EIP)and Anycast Elastic IP Address (Anycast EIP). Then, determine whether you need to configure an acceleration area based on the selected accelerated IP address type.
Types of accelerated IP addresses
The accelerated IP address types include Elastic IP Address and Anycast Elastic IP Address. The following table describes the main differences between accelerated IP addresses of the Elastic IP Address type and accelerated IP addresses of the Anycast Elastic IP Address type:
Item | Elastic IP Address | Anycast EIP |
Access mode | Uses the custom nearby access mode. You must configure an acceleration area.  You can select acceleration areas and regions as needed. GA provides an EIP for each acceleration region. | Uses the automatic nearby access mode. You do not need to configure an acceleration area.  GA provides two Anycast EIPs in multiple regions across the globe. Clients can connect to the nearest access point of the Alibaba Cloud acceleration network through the Anycast EIPs. |
Supported access points | GA supports Acceleration areas. | Relies on access points covered by Anycast EIP to provide network acceleration, mainly for regions outside the Chinese mainland. Clients in the Chinese mainland connect through China (Hong Kong). |
Features |
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The Anycast EIP accelerated IP address type is available only to beta users. To use this feature, contact your account manager.
The number of accelerated IP addresses for each acceleration region of a medium GA instance varies based on the billing method of the instance and the accelerated IP address type:
Pay-as-you-go GA instances
If the accelerated IP address type is Elastic IP Address, two EIPs are allocated to each acceleration region. The two EIPs can be used to simultaneously accelerate client traffic and ensure high availability for the acceleration region.
If the accelerated IP address type is Anycast EIP, GA provides two Anycast EIPs in multiple regions across the globe.
Subscription GA instances
Only the Elastic IP Address type is supported. One EIP is allocated to each acceleration region.
IP protocol versions of accelerated IP addresses
You can add an acceleration area and select the IP protocol of the accelerated IP address only when the accelerated IP address type is Elastic IP Address. When the accelerated IP address type is Anycast Elastic IP Address, the accelerated IP address supports only IPv4.
After you add an acceleration area, Global Accelerator assigns an accelerated IP address of the corresponding protocol to each region that accesses the acceleration area based on the IP protocol that you selected when you added the acceleration area.
Protocol version
IPv4: Allocates an IPv4 accelerated IP address. This allows IPv4 clients to connect to the GA network.
IPv6: Allocates an IPv6 accelerated IP address. This allows IPv6 clients to connect to the GA network and enables the IPv6 Translation Service.
Dual-stack: Allocates both an IPv4 and an IPv6 accelerated IP address. This allows both IPv4 and IPv6 clients to connect to the GA network.
Limits on dual-stack
GA instance type: medium pay-as-you-go GA instance.
Network type: Only BGP (Multi-ISP) is supported.
Listener routing type: Only smart routing is supported.
Regions that support IPv6 and dual-stack
The regions in the following table are for reference only. For a list of supported regions, refer to the console.
For information about regions that are not enabled by default and how to request access, see Acceleration areas.
Acceleration area | Regions |
North China | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Ulanqab) |
South China | China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou) |
East China | China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai) |
Southwest China | China (Chengdu) |
North America | US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Mexico |
Asia Pacific | China (Hong Kong), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Japan (Tokyo), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok) |
Europe | Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) |
Protocol version
IPv4: Allocates an IPv4 accelerated IP address. This allows IPv4 clients to connect to the GA network.
IPv6: Allocates an IPv6 accelerated IP address. This allows IPv6 clients to connect to the GA network and enables the IPv6 Translation Service.
Dual-stack: Allocates both an IPv4 and an IPv6 accelerated IP address. This allows both IPv4 and IPv6 clients to connect to the GA network.
Limits on dual-stack
GA instance type: medium pay-as-you-go GA instance.
Network type: Only BGP (Multi-ISP) is supported.
Listener routing type: Only smart routing is supported.
Regions that support IPv6 and dual-stack
The regions in the following table are for reference only. For a list of supported regions, refer to the console.
For information about regions that are not enabled by default and how to request access, see Acceleration areas.
Acceleration area | Regions |
North China | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Ulanqab) |
South China | China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou) |
East China | China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai) |
Southwest China | China (Chengdu) |
North America | US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Mexico |
Asia Pacific | China (Hong Kong), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Japan (Tokyo), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok) |
Europe | Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) |
Acceleration region bandwidth
Each acceleration region in a Global Accelerator instance is allocated a specific bandwidth value. This bandwidth determines the maximum data transfer rate for traffic that flows through the acceleration region into the Alibaba Cloud acceleration network. Each acceleration region is subject to bandwidth throttling based on the bandwidth that is allocated to it.
Bandwidth allocation limits
The bandwidth that can be allocated to each acceleration region is related to the billing method of the Global Acceleratorinstance.
Billing method | Bandwidth billing method | Bandwidth allocation limits |
Pay-as-you-go | Pay-by-data-transfer |
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Subscription | Pay-by-bandwidth |
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Endpoint group region bandwidth limits
The bandwidth limits of endpoint group regions vary by billing method:
Subscription — Each endpoint group region is throttled based on the maximum bandwidth processing capability of the instance type.
Pay-as-you-go — Each endpoint group region is throttled based on the sum of the bandwidth of all acceleration regions.
Internet quality types of acceleration regions
For pay-as-you-go GA instances that use Elastic IP Address as the accelerated IP address type, you can select a network type for the acceleration region.
BGP (Multi-ISP): BGP (Multi-ISP) provides high-quality BGP lines that cover multiple regions across the globe. It connects to the networks of multiple carriers and automatically selects the optimal route to ensure fast and stable access.
All acceleration regions support and use the BGP (Multi-ISP) type by default.
BGP Pro: BGP Pro is a premium network line that optimizes traffic from regions outside the Chinese mainland to the Chinese mainland. It improves the quality of international connections. Compared with standard BGP (Multi-ISP) lines, BGP Pro lines provide lower latency when they serve clients in the Chinese mainland (excluding data centers in the Chinese mainland) because they are directly connected to the Chinese mainland through premium carrier networks.
Currently, GA supports the BGP Pro type only in the China (Hong Kong) and Japan (Tokyo) regions.
Relationship between acceleration areas and regions
An acceleration area is a collection of Alibaba Cloud regions. Each acceleration area contains one or more Alibaba Cloud regions. For a detailed mapping of acceleration areas to their constituent regions, see the following content:
Pay-as-you-go
When the accelerated IP type is Elastic IP Address, you can select acceleration areas and regions. When the accelerated IP type is Anycast Elastic IP Address, the supported acceleration regions depend on the access points covered by Anycast EIP, and you do not need to select acceleration areas and regions.
The regions in the following table are for reference only. For a list of supported regions, refer to the console.
If the client is in a region that is not supported by GA, you can select the nearest acceleration region. Client traffic can enter the Alibaba Cloud acceleration network from the selected acceleration region through the accelerated IP address or CNAME.
The following acceleration regions are not available by default. To use these regions, submit a request:
Contact your account manager: China (Heyuan) and Philippines (Manila).
Request a privilege quota: Brazil (Sao Paulo), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), and UAE (Dubai).
Log on to the Quota Center Privilege Quota List page and request the Acceleration Region Whitelist privilege quota (Quota ID: ga_whitelist/region_whitelist). For more information, see Increase Quotas.
Acceleration area | Regions |
North China | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Ulanqab) |
South China | China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou) |
East China | China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai) |
Southwest China | China (Chengdu) |
North America | US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Canada (Toronto), Canada (Vancouver), Mexico |
South America | Brazil (Sao Paulo) |
Asia Pacific | China (Hong Kong), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Japan (Tokyo), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) |
Europe | Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) |
Middle East | UAE (Dubai) |
Subscription
The regions in the following table are for reference only. For a list of supported regions, refer to the console.
If the client is in a region that is not supported by GA, you can select the nearest acceleration region. Client traffic can enter the Alibaba Cloud acceleration network from the selected acceleration region through the accelerated IP address or CNAME.
The following acceleration regions are not available by default. To use these regions, submit a request:
Contact your account manager: Philippines (Manila).
Request a privilege quota: China (Heyuan), China (Nanjing), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Thailand (Bangkok), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh).
Log on to the Privilege Quota List of Quota Center page and request the Acceleration Region Whitelist privilege quota (Quota ID: ga_whitelist/region_whitelist). For more information, see Increase Quotas.
Acceleration area | Regions |
North China | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Ulanqab) |
South China | China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou) |
East China | China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Nanjing) |
Southwest China | China (Chengdu) |
North America | US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Canada (Toronto), Canada (Vancouver) |
South America | Brazil (Sao Paulo) |
Asia Pacific | China (Hong Kong), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Japan (Tokyo), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) |
Europe | Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London) |